


For Those Who Wait

by Therapeutic_Steter



Series: Prompt Fics [29]
Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: M/M, Mates
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-06
Updated: 2018-01-06
Packaged: 2019-03-01 01:04:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,349
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13283652
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Therapeutic_Steter/pseuds/Therapeutic_Steter
Summary: yaoi-pairings asked: Hi :) Can you do a Steter post where Peter and Stiles are mates. Peter has known since he met Stiles (the bite scene in season 1), but decides to give Stiles space to grow, experience life yada yada yada. Stiles on the other hand wondered why Peter didn't bite him the way he did to Scott, he finds out about the mating thing and has been waiting for Peter to say something, he assumes its because he's underage and so he waits until he is 18 and still nothing! He decides to confront Peter





	For Those Who Wait

When Peter met Stiles the first time in the hospital, it was like he’d breathed fresh air for the first time in years but also like someone had just nailed the final nail in his coffin.

Suddenly things made sense. The scent that had been circulating around and slowly driving him mad, distracting him from his plans, finally had a home. Stiles. His mate.

Stiles, who’d taught his wayward beta without any help. Stiles, who’d saved his nephew despite all odds. Stiles, who’d mocked him within the school, daring and stubborn even through his fear.

Stiles, who was just a teenager, fifteen years between them. Stiles, who was working to stop him. Stiles, who feared him, hated him.

Peter hadn’t meant to tear into the redheaded banshee so deeply, hadn’t meant to leave her so wounded, but when he’d smelled Stiles’ scent on her, he was ashamed to admit—even to himself—that he’d lost control.

Offering Stiles the Bite was a spur of the moment decision, and yet Peter had never wanted anything more in his life. He could feel Stiles’ blood in his veins beneath his fingers, his scent almost overwhelming him. His wolf howled for him to claim but Stiles hadn’t given his consent and he could never take what his mate hadn’t offered. Not from Stiles. As far gone as he was, he could never do that. He nuzzled the skin of Stiles’ wrist, longing aching within him, and he felt his fangs growing at the very idea.

“I don’t want to be like you,” Stiles said, even as his heart skipped with the lie. Peter let him go reluctantly, knowing that their paths were set. Maybe another life, another time, another world…but not this one, and that was the only thing that mattered. Peter hid his disappointment, turning and heading for battle.

That night, he burned again before his nephew’s claws brought sweet relief.

…

Stiles couldn’t get that night out of his head. Among all the fear and adrenaline that had been swirling around, he could still remember Peter’s hand around his wrist, warm breath against his skin. How he’d offered the bite, a gift. How Stiles had turned it down.

How Peter had pulled away, respecting his choice like he hadn’t anyone else’s.

Stiles didn’t know how he felt about that.

He did a lot of research, because that’s what he does, and he still isn’t sure he’s got an answer to why Peter did that.

“He bite Scott and Lydia without consent…why would mine matter?” Stiles thought aloud, frustrated. It wasn’t like he could ask him, what with Peter being six feet under, so maybe he should just let it go. If only his hyper-focused mind would let him.

When Peter came back from the dead with a swoop of his claws at the kanima, Stiles equally wanted to scream and demanded answers.

“You…are alive,” Stiles finally managed to say, after the battle. After Scott had slunk away with Allison and Chris, after Derek had limped away with what was left of his pack, after Lydia and Jackson had left without looking at anyone else. After Stiles was left alone, forgotten again.

“So I am,” Peter said, calmly moving to help Stiles clear the debris that was keeping Roscoe from backing out.

“How?” Stiles asked, unable to curb his curiosity. “And since when?”

“The worm moon,” Peter said, offering him a cheeky smirk that absolutely did not make Stiles’ heart stutter and certainly didn’t fit Stiles preconceived judgments on the man. “I…strongly suggested a ritual for Ms. Martin to perform, with the help of my nephew.”

Stiles frowned. “‘Strongly suggested’, huh?” he murmured thoughtfully, remembering being at school and hearing Lydia’s screams, remembering her odd behavior at her party, remembering the hallucinations and utter craziness that was their life. “You were terrorizing her from beyond the grave,” he said, shaking his head and moving another piece of debris to avoid having to look over at the wolf. “Zombiewolf.”

Peter laughed, and the sound didn’t fit the monstrous Alpha that he once was. Stiles glanced over at him, seeing the laugh lines by his eyes, and he thought it might fit this newer, saner version of Peter though. Maybe.

“Am I to believe that’s a step up from the ‘Creeperwolf’ you previously dubbed me?” Peter drawled teasingly, grabbing a fallen beam and easily lifting it out of the way, leaning it against the wall. Stiles hated the fact that if he hadn’t, Stiles would never have been able to get his jeep out of here.

Stiles shrugged. “More a lateral move than a step up, but whatever makes you feel better at night, dude.”

Peter chuckled again, his eyes bright and utterly focused on Stiles.

“Why didn’t you bite me?” Stiles blurted before his brain caught up with his mouth and his heart thundered within his chest. He didn’t look away from Peter’s eyes.

Peter raised a brow. “You said ‘no’,” he pointed out.

“You didn’t ask the others. Why me?” Stiles pushed. He didn’t know why, but suddenly he needed to know the answer. He felt like it was important.

Peter smirked, but his eyes seemed troubled. “Scott was a mistake and Lydia was an insurance policy. Biting you without your consent wouldn’t have benefited me. I wasn’t _trying_ to make more enemies, Stiles.”

Stiles snorted humorlessly, looking away. “You pissed off a lot of people to not have been looking for enemies,” he said.

“Perhaps I may have done a few things…differently, if I’d had the wherewithal. What’s done is done though.” He shrugged, looking away. “I died, revenge complete. And I’m much better now.”

Stiles snorted. “Like death is a sickness. ‘Oh yeah, I was dead, but I got better.’”

Peter smiled, amused, and Stiles felt heat on his face at the look. He looked down at his shoes, shuffling. “Do you need a ride somewhere?” He asked, gesturing to his now free jeep.

“Thank you, but I’ll manage. I’m sure I’ll be seeing you around, Stiles,” Peter said, waving before turning to leave. “Stay safe.”

“Yeah, you too,” Stiles offered on autopilot before he nearly slapped himself with a face palm. Who cared if Peter Hale stayed safe? If anything, he should be cursing the fact that the creeper couldn’t stay dead. He groaned to himself, getting into Roscoe and gently coaxing the engine awake. Just more complications. Fun.

…..

Stiles didn’t accept the answer that Peter had given—after all, what threat was Stiles?—but he didn’t have enough information to really dispute it. Plus, if he had had a reason only Peter knew it, and pulling a straight answer from that guy was like trying to yank out a tooth. So he puts it on the backburner and doesn’t come back to. Not until a few months later, that is.

“I don’t understand why Scott’s acting all crazy,” Stiles grumbled, flipping through a book as he and Derek looked for the most recent monster-of-the-week’s weakness. “It’s just him and Allison being off again. They break up like every other week.”

“She’s his mate, what do you expect?” Derek muttered irritably, barely refraining from tearing the book in his hands apart as it neglected to provide any useful information. As it were, he just tried glaring it into submission. It wasn’t working.

“Wait, what? Mate? Those are real?” Stiles asked, turning away from his book to stare at Derek incredulously. “I thought those were made-up for sure.”

“They’re rare, but mates are real things,” Derek denied, sighing and setting the book aside. “A wolf can sense it immediately, but a human wouldn’t feel any differently.”

Stiles leaned forward, amazed. “What else? What can the mate bond do? Share emotions? Thoughts? Does it act like a locator spell? And what happens if the human mate rejects the wolf, since they can’t feel the mate bond? Will that hurt the wolf? What about—”

“Stiles!” Derek shouted, cutting him off. “Now I regret telling you,” he grumbled.

“Come on, dude! You can’t just drop a bomb like that and then not give me more information! Tell me! Please?”

Derek sighed. “I don’t know a lot about them, Stiles. I told you, they’re rare. I’ve never heard that they let you share thoughts, but I have heard you can get a sense of your mate’s wellbeing through the bond. And you also get an idea of where they are; maybe not as precise as a locator spell, but still. And from what my…” Derek paused, breathing shakily. “From what my mom told me, if a human denies the mate bond, it can be painful for the wolf. They won’t die or anything, but it will hurt. That’s why most wolves won’t even reveal that they have a mate bond with a human. Better the human just not know than to be actively denying and pushing the bond away. That way, the wolf might at least be able to be the human’s friend, if nothing else. Proximity helps the ache not be so bed. Or that’s what I remember, anyways.”

Stiles hummed in fascination, wondering what a mate bond would feel like. He bit his lip, eyeing the piles of books and wondering if they’d have any other information on mate bonds.

“You’re not even thinking about our monster problem, are you?” Derek asked, resigned.

“Not really,” Stiles admitted, looking over at the wolf sheepishly.

“Then it’s a good thing I’ve come to solve all your problems,” Peter announced, coming down the stairs dramatically and holding an old leather-bound tome. He grinned darkly. “We have to cut off their heads with iron.”

Stiles groaned. “Of course we do.”

Derek was already up and moving for the door.

“Uh, dude? You’re just taking his word for it?” Stiles asked incredulously, waving to Peter and demanding he give over the book. Peter huffed but handed it over, showing Stiles where he’d found the information.

“We’re running out of time, Stiles,” Derek said, tapping his foot impatiently.

“And where are you going to find an iron weapon?” Stiles demanded.

Derek paused, frowning. His eyebrows furrowed deeply in thought.

Stiles sighed, pulling out his phone. “I’ll call Mr. Argent.”

Peter’s sneer was a hateful thing and he jerked away from Stiles, letting him keep the book. Stiles gave him a confused look, absentmindedly rubbing at his chest as a twinge of wrongness came to him.

“Stiles?” Chris said as soon as the call connected.

“We need iron,” Stiles said.

…..

Stiles went into research mode on mate bonds, utterly captivated by everything he’d found out. Mates could help each other heal faster, they provide rock-solid anchors for wolves, and they could even make humans more resilient with faster reflexes and heightened senses if the human accepted the bond. It wasn’t to the point of being a wolf, but greater than being just a normal human.

What really interested Stiles was the pack politics involved. The human mate would take up the level of pack ranking of the wolf they were bonded to unless they were actively denying the bond. Sometimes this could be done entirely subconsciously if the wolf in question hadn’t revealed the bond, and the other wolves in a pack may not even realize what they were doing by deferring to a human pack member.

Plus, a wolf could very rarely deny their mate anything. Instinct seemed to lead a wolf to need to provide, protect, and cherish their mate. Lore even seemed to suggest that a wolf would naturally want their human mate to accept the Bite, but if the human had any reservations even the most wild of wolves could never force their mate to—

Stiles stiffened, wide eyes staring at his wall before he quickly reread that sentence.

“ _A wolf will see the Bite as the best way to keep their mate safe, so if they are human it is natural for the wolf to offer the Bite. However, if the human mate has any objections to turning, the wolf would never allow the choice to be forced upon their mate._ ”

“No way,” Stiles denied, muttering to himself and shaking his head. “I’m being ridiculous. That’s just not possible. It’s just cause that’s on my mind. That’s all.” Stiles shook the thought away, even though it remained niggling in his mind long after he put the book away and started on his actual homework.

…..

Stiles hummed to himself, working on his homework in the loft for a nice change of pace. He felt something…odd in his chest, like a tug. He looked up to see Peter leaning against the doorway to the kitchen, watching him with a fond look that Peter quickly worked to hide when Stiles looked up.

“Coloring a pretty picture?” Peter teased, smirking.

Stiles rolled his eyes. “Only the bestest,” he returned, finishing his doodle in the corner of his notes before glancing back at the math problems he had left. He paused, sniffing the air. “I don’t suppose that you would be cooking enough for me too?” He asked hesitantly, looking up at Peter.

Peter huffed, rolling his eyes and turning back for the kitchen. “Put that away and wash up. It’ll be ready in ten minutes.”

Stiles grinned, ignoring how his heart stuttered as he did as he was told. Then he sat at the counter, inhaling deeply as Peter set a plate of food before him.

“Thanks,” Stiles said, taking a large bite. Peter shook his head at his manners, leaning against the counter opposite him and starting on his own plate. Stiles felt warmth in his chest, like stepping into a warm bath after a cold day, and he embraced the feeling. Peter seemed to relax as they ate, the silence comfortable. Stiles thought he could get used to this.

Stiles thought back to Peter’s earlier comment idly. Maybe that was it. Stiles was only barely seventeen; maybe Peter wanted to wait until after he turned eighteen and graduated high school before telling him. Stiles bit his lip, looking down at his meal. Peter had provided for him and was always protecting him whenever whatever monster-of-the-week appeared. He was always nicer to Stiles than the others. He might be unsure if the mate bond would be accepted or not though. Derek did say that wolves wouldn’t normally tell the human mate about it unless they were sure it would be accepted.

Stiles nodded to himself, decision made. He had just under a year to get Peter to understand that Stiles would accept the bond.

…..

Stiles spent the next few months subtly studying the resident Zombiewolf, making notes on what the man seemed to like and what he didn’t like. Stiles started baking for pack nights, grinning delightedly when he found out Peter’s secret love for peanut butter cookies. He always saved extra for the wolf which he was only slightly secretive about making sure Peter got. The wolf always gave him a knowing look though, his eyes soft and smile just a bit too pleased to be a smirk. Stiles felt warm and cozy almost all the time—even while they were hunting that yeti in the middle of a snowstorm—and he thought for sure it was because of the bond and him accepting it.

When his eighteenth came, the pack threw him a party at Derek’s loft. It was crazy fun and Stiles was only mildly disappointed when Peter didn’t make him move. He still had a few months of high school left, after all, and Stiles could see why that would give the older wolf pause. It was all the more reason for Stiles to want school to end though, nearly bouncing in his seat in excitement as the end crept closer.

“Someone’s excited,” Peter teased as he crawled into Stiles’ bedroom where the boy was getting his cap and gown on in preparation of graduation.

“Uh, yeah. I’ve only been waiting for forever,” Stiles said, smiling happily as affection bloomed within him. Maybe it was his own, maybe it was Peter’s; Stiles never knew anymore and he didn’t care. After a year of honestly getting to know the older wolf, Stiles was pretty sure he was more in love with the wolf than he could’ve ever imagined. “What’s up?” Stiles asked, turning to face the wolf and setting his cap aside for now.

“I wanted to give you your graduation present,” Peter said.

Stiles grinned. This was it. This had to be it.

“Oh? Sweet, dude! What is it?” Stiles asked, nearly vibrating. He licked his lips. He couldn’t wait to kiss Peter senseless.

“Contrary to your belief, I’m not oblivious and have picked up on your not-so-subtle queues,” Peter started, smirking smugly. “But I thought it’d be best if I gave you your present now instead of in front of the pack, since I hardly went to all the trouble for the rest of them.”

Stiles snorted. “Dude, I—and everyone else—know that I’m your favorite.”

Peter rolled his eyes, stepping closer. “Yes, yes. You’ve all figured me out,” he teased lightly. He pulled out a box from his pocket and held it out towards Stiles. Stiles tilted his head in confusion, looking down at the box before taking it.

Stiles opened the box, gaping at the new Rolex watch nestled safety in black velvet. “What…” Stiles breathed, staring at the watch.

“You’ve been complaining for weeks about your watch breaking thanks to that run-in with the leprechaun,” Peter said. “And this is a good one. Waterproof, shatterproof, basically every kind of proof I could find.”

“Peter,” Stiles said, looking up. “I wasn’t dropping hints for you to get me a watch and this was probably way too expensive for me to even consider keeping.”

Peter huffed, waving his hand. “Nonsense; I bought it for you. I want you to have it, Stiles. You deserve nice things.”

Stiles stared at him. “I don’t understand,” Stiles finally said, words spewing forth. “I thought I had made it clear that I would say ‘yes’.”

Peter blinked, looking startled. “What?”

“I’ve known about the bond for months, Peter. I thought you were waiting for me to turn eighteen, then to graduate, and nothing. Are you ashamed? Do you…not want me?” Stiles asked, voice quiet as he seemed to curl within himself.

“What are you…bond? How do you…” Peter was uncharacteristically flustered, anxiety creeping into his chest and he took a step back.

“I know,” Stiles said evenly, meeting Peter’s gaze. “I know, and I’m accepting.”

Peter gasped as the bond snapped into place, fully acknowledged. He reached out for Stiles’ table to steady himself, overwhelmed by the concern and affection he could feel through the bond. Stiles stepped closer, brushing his hand up Peter’s chest and resting it on his shoulder.

Stiles smiled and it was a beautiful thing. Peter cupped his face with trembling hands. “Truly?” he breathed, fear almost catching the word in his throat.

“Absolutely,” Stiles murmured, leaning closer to run his nose along Peter’s, inching just a bit nearer.

Peter sealed their lips, eyes sliding shut in the wake of his mate’s acceptance. He’d always thought the best he could hope for with Stiles would be friendship, and even then it would have to accompany looks of uncertainty and distrust. To have his acceptance, not only for friendship but of the mate bond, of _Peter_ , was nearly overwhelming.

“I didn’t really think this timing through,” Stiles murmured as the kiss broke. “I needed to leave for graduation like five minutes ago.”

Peter chuckled, nuzzling against his mate—his _mate_ —feeling practically giddy. “They’ll wait,” he responded, hands running down Stiles’ chest before curling around his hips.

“I have a speech,” Stiles muttered, though he made no move to pull away, arms wrapping around Peter’s neck.

“They’ll wait,” Peter repeated, words whispered against Stiles’ mouth. “Because I’m done waiting.”

Stiles huffed with humor, whiskey eyes sparkling with affection, and he figured a few more minutes wouldn’t hurt anyone. He was done waiting too.


End file.
